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Nestled in the Sierra Foothills of Northern California, Camp Woolman is a beautiful small community where kids come to hike, swim, make friends, play sports, do art, learn about peace and community, and drop all pretenses to let their inner light shine through. Our small camp size ensures that every child is given the attention and encouragement they need to just be themselves and have a great time!

Enclosed are my memories of how the Guatemala Scholarship Fund (now “Progresa”) was started in the small Quaker meeting in Guatemala. The 1974 letter of appeal (enclosed) seems almost naively amusing! Please edit these in any way you feel appropriate.

Friends Committee on National Legislation is asking Quaker meetings right now to offer suggestions about what the FCNL legislative priorities should be for the 117th Congress (2021-2022). I urge Friends in the West to especially focus on legislation affecting our atmosphere, natural environment, and the uses of our public lands.

Thank you for your visit to Maui. The time was so pleasant that I was shocked to find four hours had sped by, leaving me to dash to a meeting of my homeowners’ association (HOA). I hope the remainder of your trip was pleasant.

As it turned out, the HOA meeting was less than harmonious. Afterwards, I began reading the edition of Western Friend you left with us. Fortunately, “Quakers and Conflict” was the first article I chose to read. The next morning, I went online... Read more.

Thank-you for publishing Sara Keeney’s article “Quakers and Conflict” in the Jan/Feb 2020 issue. I was especially struck by the chart in the article, which shows “Collaboration” as the most powerful combination of assertiveness and cooperation in a conflict. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, shared by Friend Sara, appears to be a helpful tool for analyzing power dynamics in many situations. Thanks again for sharing this valuable resource!

Western Friend brings a much broader vision of Quakers than is possible for us to see only from our small meeting here in Montana. Just knowing that Friends in Mexico gather every few years to share their common concerns, or that Quakers in Moscow even exist, opens my eyes to the reality that our peaceful searching for solutions to conflict is a world-wide Quaker Meeting. Blessings to you.

“Way has opened” countless times over the past five years, as I followed a calling to create a nonprofit organization called Poetry Heals.

We take therapeutic poetry-writing to people living difficult lives. We have learned that people feel better and make better decisions when they write to process what is on their hearts. Even more, when they write in a group,... Read more.

Craftivism is craft plus activism. It is creating and sharing art that expresses a political or social message. Writer and activist Betsy Greer coined the term in 2003, and since then, it has spread around the world. Many activists share testimonials about the ways that craftivism has changed their lives, making them calmer and happier people.